artists are people, too

So why are they so hard to reach? Since I anticipate having a couple hundred postcards left after the gallery portion of this project is de-installed tomorrow, I thought I'd extend my mailing list (initially focused on family, friends, and a small handful of art world associates outside the Boston area) to artists. Artists I admire, artists I find annoying but irresistable, artists I could get a hold of one way or another. That proved to be a difficult task. Artists used to rent post office boxes, but now it's all e-mail, if even that. And I not only have no desire to contact an artist via his or her gallery, but I'm quite sure that would be much less successful than trying to reach them directly. My postcard will likely end up in the trash anyway, but I think it's a smidge less likely if I cut out the middle man (or woman). The only artist I could think of, who has a website and - bonus - a p.o. box is Miranda July. I felt nervous just sending it out, as if I was going to meet her in person. Strange how celebrity works.

googlism as internet postmodernism...or virtual life coach

Do you remember when Google was still relatively new and you could spend hours typing in various googlisms, probably starting with your name and finding out what Google "thinks" of you and your friends? I did this with the question that this blog poses and here are some of the results:

Where are you not honoring and valuing yourself?
Where are you not letting your light shine?
Where are you not a good follower in clearly defined biblical roles?
Where are you not willing to settle?
Where are you not recognized?
Where are you not welcome?
Where are you not looking?
Where are you not going to?
Where are you not as effective as you would like to be?
Where are you not feeling strong, positive, secure, confident, independent?
Where are you not allowed to make any noise after 8 p.m.?
Where are you not being authentic?
Where are you not performing as well as you could be in your life?
Where are you not going for excellence and accepting mediocre results?
Where are you not protected?
Where are you not aligned?
Where are you not willing to compromise?
Where are you not living your values?
Where are you not doing your best because you don’t have to?
Where are you not able to adapt?
Where are you not stretching your boundaries?
Where are you not sure?
Where are you not where you want to be?

You get the idea. That last one, I guess, is the more relevant version of the question for this particular project, since travel and geographical displacement are at least intended aspects of it. I think the timing of this project's start - beginning just before Thanksgiving and extending well into the holiday season - adds a little more melancholy than it might have had any other time of year. Or maybe not. Either way, I'm okay with that.

where are you not?

Well, I'm not on the beach, that's for sure. An image taken from my living room window this morning as Boston experienced the first snow of 06-07, tame as it was.

reception + multiples

Last night the Intermediate/Advanced Screenprinting class sponsored a reception for the Team Screen exhibit. Attendance was lower than I think we all hoped for...I'm not sure why. We held the reception from 4 to 6 p.m., an hour before and one hour after classes typically end. Maybe people were hesitant to walk the 15 minutes or so up the hill from the main building. Low attendance was likely also responsible for low sales of t-shirts and multiples. I suspected sales would be minimal, at best, most attending being end-of-semester broke students who would like to buy our stuff for their holiday gift-giving, I'm sure, but just don't have the cash. Which leaves me with all 10 little boxes of Sunshine I made, in addition to four postcard booklets.


The boxes are made from an image of blue sky and clouds, printed in cyan on vellum. I made a box template (about 2 1/4 inches wide by 1 1/2 inches high and 1 1/2 inches deep), cut it out, and assembled it with a glue gun.


Inside are miniature adirondack chairs I got from an online wedding vendor (their intended purpose is as a placecard holder for wedding guests) and painted with Benjamin Moore's "sunshine" yellow interior house paint. The chairs are sitting on an image of sand, printed on velour paper and cut to the size of the bottom of the box.


The postcard booklets are compiled from leftover prints I had of the 11 images I used in the gallery piece. I spruced them up a bit with a few layers of gloss overprint varnish and rounded the corners ever so slightly to mock the vintage postcard aesthetic.

team screen

Bad news first...The gallery portion of this project has already suffered a little damage (to be expected, I guess, being on the floor and in a relatively high traffic area). I suspect the Medici reception that immediately followed installation, but nothing looks terribly intentional. I'll wait until the reception (next Wednesday, November 29th) to do any mending.


The good news is I did plenty of post-fussing, pre-damage documentation, and in the images I took after I noticed the damage, you can't really tell.




Over the weekend, I added the postcard portion. The idea with the postcard is primarily to provide a link between the gallery experience and the website. And to send to family, friends, and other artists who can't make it to Boston before December 14th.


In the spirit of documentation, I took my camera with me to the screenprinting studio on Saturday, snapping a few shots (and video...see Sunday's post below) during the eight or so hours I was there printing a batch of postcards advertising the show. Screen plus ink plus squeegee...


equals print (layer one of four).


I printed my separations from this, much cleaner, more precise digital postcard I put together using InDesign.

screeners in action

30 seconds of screenprinting action at the Museum School facilities. Also at work (I'm on the left) is fellow second year grad student Nicole Kita (on the right).

installation

One week has passed since my inaugural post. Fifteen images from summer travels were cropped and CMYK color separations were printed onto acetate and burned onto one and eventually a second, reclaimed screen, allowing me to work much quicker in the last two or three days of printing. 50 sheets of Aquaprint paper were trimmed, registration holes punched, ink mixed, and much emulsion used. I made 300 prints in eight days, getting a great upper body workout and more mysterious aches and pains in my lower back, hips, and feet. Installation of the print portion of this project started yesterday. Following is documentation of the process, front the print to the gallery.

This is what 300 CMYK color separation screenprints look like wrapped as daily bundles in brown kraft paper. Some days were more productive than others.


Using crop marks as guides, I trimmed each print to 6 by 8 inches.


This is what 300 CMYK color separation screenprints look like trimmed and stacked.


I painted eight 1/2 by 24 by 48 inch wooden panels from Home Depot using Behr flat enamel in "Hidden Peak".


On Wednesday afternoon, I began installing an edited version of the print project, using only 165 images in a grid eleven across and fifteen down. Each row of prints was assembled like an accordion book the night before.


Installation continues in the Mission Hill building's gallery. In the background fellow Intermediate/Advance Screeprinting student Maria Miklowski pumps air into the balloons that fill her printed fabric piece titled everything that rises must deflate.


Nearing completion. Passersby respond to the work in progress, preferring the subtle peaks that result from the rows shifting as I move the panels underneath to what I describe as a flatter, finished piece.


Mostly finished. Some tweaking of lights and fussing with prints happened after the documentation subsided.


Post tweaking and fussing photos to be posted very soon.

The show is now officially open. Shipping from San Francisco-based Rocket Postcards is taking a little longer than desired, but I should have the professionally printed postcards by Friday. If you'd like me to send you one or a packet of several, send me an e-mail or write me a letter (contact information can be found in the sidebar).

pre-press

The CMYK screenprints are underway, postcards are in pre-press, and the website is fully functional. The gallery installation (part of the show Team Screen) will quietly open at the Mission Hill Gallery at 160 St. Alphonsus Street in Boston on Thursday, November 16th. There will be a reception for the show on Wednesday, November 29th, from 4 to 6 p.m. All are welcome.